


In the Red Glow

by TheLibrarianmystique



Category: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 08:09:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18406589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLibrarianmystique/pseuds/TheLibrarianmystique
Summary: Rebecca Bunch just finished playing the song she wrote at the open mic, who does she drink with afterwards? Requested by @heartbash





	In the Red Glow

The club was bathed in reddish light and between open mic sets the gathering buzzed with conversation. After her declaration and song, Rebecca had dipped her head to the applause. She

wasn’t quite able to accept that it was more than just polite but she had to admit, it seemed sincere. Then she had floated over to Paula hugged her supportive entourage. Through the

adrenaline and vulnerable, shaking feeling, she could feel their praise like strokes directly against her psyche. Valencia held her around her waist and hugged her close to her. ‘You were so

good!’ She said, shaking her on each word before pulling affectionately on her braid.

  
After making pleasantries with a few strangers who approached her to say they liked her set, Rebecca lowered her eyes and crossed the room to the bar and ordered a sex on the beach, because she figured, she wasn’t getting much of either lately, given the weather and the self-imposed celibacy.

  
The bartender snaked a little red twizzler across the rim of her glass with a heart shaped lollipop attached to the end.

  
‘Nice set’ he murmured. ‘Real courageous’.  
‘What?!’ Rebecca cupped her ear with her right hand, cradling her drink between her elbows.  
‘You did good! Especially for your first time’ he replied, meeting her eyes briefly.

  
‘You should come again. We do this every Tuesday’. He had that lean, compact look she liked in a man, and smooth pale skin. His brown hair fell over one eye and he flicked his head, expertly, to put it back in place. Rebecca smiled an awkward shit-eating smile. She remembered she had said she was ready for love for maybe some people in the room, but not *that* ready.  
  
‘Rebecca!’ a voice reached her over the sound of the hubbub between sets. She thought they had probably called quite a few times already.  
She took a sip of her drink and held it in front of her for cover, stirring the red twizzler against the ice. Looking up at the familiar face.  
‘Nathaniel’ she said warmly. She had felt a little dread upon finishing her set. Knowing she had laid herself open yet again to disappoint someone, maybe. But the warmth she had felt seeing Nathaniel had surprised her.  
He pushed his way through the crowd, using his height and chest to shift bodies out of his way with a gentle push. His hand fluttered in a familiar way and he put his hand on her arm affectionately.

  
A bell rang suddenly and the MC started to announce the next act.  
‘Let’s sit together so we can talk’ he whispered. He had to bend right down to reach her ear and moved her side braid out of the way.  
She had forgotten how tall he was, she shuddered a little involuntarily at the sensation of his voice in her ear. Goosebumps. Again.  
Taking her elbow, he escorted her to a table near the back, close to the sound desk but away from the bar.

  
‘And now, Vale cia?’ The MC said uncertainly.  
‘It’s Valencia’ said Valencia icily, her red mouth patronisingly wide, she flicked back her hair and walked on her kitten heels to the stage.  
‘This one is for Beth, who helps me be a better me’ she said, cupping the mike with her hand, while Hector tuned up a guitar. Valencia shot him a warning glance before taking a breath to sing.  
Beth laughed as Valencia hammed up ‘All of Me’ to Hector’s surprisingly good acoustic finger-picking.  
The room went quiet in respect. No one even clinked their glasses, the bartender leaned on the bar to watch.

  
‘That was great’ Rebecca could feel his whisper vibrate on her eardrum.  
She repressed another shudder.  
‘Thankyou’ she answered, she was quickly learning this was a better response than ‘did you really like it? I’m still not sure the melody is distinct enough’ which left people pursing their mouths and thinking of what to say.  
‘I liked the melodic narrative, it really matched the story’ he leaned in again.  
‘Really?’ She said a little too loud.  
‘Shhhhhhhh!’ a small, blonde hipster girl in a striped top and leggings looked disapprovingly at her with her finger in her lips, her heavily made up eyes narrowed.  
‘Sorry’ Rebecca said nodding.  
‘Sorry’ Nathaniel repeated, ‘have a drink on me’ he whispered. ‘Say Nathaniel said you could have a drink on his tab’ he crouched next to her tattooed shoulder before smiling and moving back to his seat.  
The hipster girl wasted no time shuffling to the bar on her stiletto ankle boots to request a drink.  
‘I think you’re going to end up paying for that whole table’ Rebecca giggled, when she saw the girl beckon to her friends, then covered her mouth with her hand.  
‘I don’t care if I pay for the whole place’s drinks. I’m just so glad to see you again. We’re celebrating. You found your happy, you took a big step tonight’ Nathaniel’s pupils looked larger in the dim red light, but she could see they were shining.

  
‘You always were so supportive of me’ Rebecca could feel her arms uncross themselves and her body language shift towards his large frame in the small chair next to her.   
‘Yes, perhaps too supportive at times’ he cleared his throat and shook his head apologetically.  
‘Now that I’ve stopped working for my dad I’ve realised how many times he asked me to do things that were really, really wrong’ he gestured, his large hands fluttering towards his chin.  
‘I should never have helped you try and hurt Josh-‘  
‘Stop!’ Rebecca laid her hand on his arm. ‘ I should never have asked you to.’ Her eyes began to fill with tears  
‘that lyric in the second verse, about treating people like my personal action figures’.  
‘Ah, yep, that was a very memorable term’ Nathaniel nodded.  
‘I was thinking of you and how I just used you to try and get my revenge on...on’ Rebecca started to get agitated.  
‘Hey, let’s not hark back to that’ Nathaniel whispered, taking her flapping hands in his own. ‘Do you want to, like, get out of here? He gestured his thumb towards the exit.  
Valencia had finished her song and was standing adjacent to their table.  She shot Rebecca a raised eyebrow.  
‘Sorry’ mouthed Rebecca.

  
She was trying to be more aware when she wasn’t considerate of others and she had clearly neglected her friend’s cover song.  
Valencia winked at her, before sitting down next to Beth again and flicking her eyes across Nathaniel’s proximity with an inscrutable look.   
‘Um, sure’ she said over the sound of applause.  
She took his proffered hand and rose from the table, smoothing her red dress.

 

It was cold outside, their coats weren’t really adequate for the biting air, although it wasn’t snowy or wet. 

“Cool Jacket” Rebecca said as they shifted their weight from foot to foot against the wall of the club.  She ran her hand down the breast of his jacket, where a little logo was sewn with the Spanish name of the wildlife sanctuary he worked for.

“Thanks, its’s really not built for this kind of cold though” he chuckled, blowing on his hands. 

“Do you like it there?” she asked, rubbing her arms through her green anorak.

“Oh, it’s the best!” Nathaniel tipped his head back, his face transforming, eyes rolling back in his head. “Everyone is there because they love the animals, the animals are there because they need to be helped, not just for everyone’s entertainment” he waved his hands expressively, gesturing so widely his hands brushed her arm.   
“I only go to court once or twice a week, the rest of the time, my office is the monkey refuge, the cantina, an off-road vehicle, or a small village meeting space.”  He looked back at her, forgetting the cold.

Rebecca smiled and laughed softly.

“How is your mom? She coping ok?” she asked, remembering Nathaniel’s mother’s face at the airport.  Her delicate eye dabbing belied the proud set of her mouth.

“Oh we talk all the time, every week, on skype” he answered.  “She loves hearing about it, she’s thinking of coming over for a few weeks, dad hates the idea”.

“How’s your dad taking it?” Rebecca asked, rubbing her foot against the back of her calf, she was freezing.

“Oh, he just happens to need something from mom every time she talks to me, walks in and asks for his tie, or his copy of Shooter magazine” he chuckled warmly.  “I just tell him I love him, that always throws him”.    
“Hey, let’s go sit in my car” Rebecca suddenly suggested, hesitantly.  She didn’t want to go back in the club and end their time together, but sitting in a car with someone carried certain, um, expectations.

“You sure?  Paula drove you, remember?” Nathaniel’s eyes looked a little, what, hopeful? When he brought his hand up to his chin his hand shook, just a little.

‘Oh right, then…” she took a breath, ‘your car, then’.

“Oh, ok” Nathaniel said, feeling in his pocket for his keys, pointed at a black Audi and pressed the clicker, it bleeped twice and lights came to life, illuminating them both in two orbs of strong, white light against the door of the club.

“Wait!” Rebecca said, suddenly.

“What?” Nathaniel replied, his equilibrium broken for a moment, he licked his lips, looking at her, breathing out.

“I can’t guarantee I’ll be good for you” Rebecca blurted, her legs were starting to shake from the cold and her jaw clenched.

“What?!” Nathaniel shook his head, a little overwhelmed.  “Get in the car, let’s talk”.

Nathaniel bundled Rebecca into the front seat and closed her door, before crossing to the driver’s side.

“I can’t promise I’ll do this right” she continued, her teeth beginning to chatter.

“Wait for the seat warmers to start working, here, put my sweater on your hands, its cashmere” Nathaniel fished a pale sweater from the back seat and wrapped it around her hands, jiggling the car controls to activate thermostat and seat warmers.

“Wow, you still have rich person things, everything I own is from chain stores now, I sold my last prada bag to restock Rebetzels last month” her mouth softened as her body began to warm up.

“Well, even though I don’t work for Plimpton/Mountaintop or whatever anymore, I’m still a partner, and I still have plenty of investments – monkeys certainly don’t pay for Audi’s and sweaters and all the drinks for every person at this open mic’ said Nathaniel ruefully.

“You should have some investments too, Rebecca, they’ll free you up to live the life you want to live, I want you to be…” he reached his hand up to touch her cheek, like he had been waiting to do it all evening.

“I am” Rebecca said, looking up into his eyes. 


End file.
